UH Mānoa professor Jonathan Osorio honored for community service efforts

HONOLULU, HAWAIʻI – Jonathan Osorio, professor in the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, has been named the recipient of the 2010 Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community Service. The Clopton award annually recognizes a UH Mānoa faculty member who has played a socially significant role by applying intellectual leadership and academic expertise to the improvement of the community.

“Professor Osorio is praised for his inspirational work and contributions as an insightful, caring and intellectual leader,” said UH Mānoa Chancellor Virginia S. Hinshaw. “In every indigenous community, there are those who are called to the role of moving their communities through hardship to transformation, and he has responded to the call in such a gracious manner. He has truly made a deep impact in the lives of so many people, as well as on numerous communities across the region.”

Osorio has devoted his life to becoming an expert on Hawai‘i politics and history, music and identity, and indigenous civil rights and social justice. His community service is imbued with the gracious spirit of ‘ohana that values children, elders and friends. “Jon is one of very few professors I know who regards community service with the same passion and commitment that he gives to academic teaching and research,” said a colleague. “His writing, teaching, speeches, advocacies on behalf of his own people and church, as well as his music of loss, love, and hope have touched the minds and hearts of thousands of people across the region we call Oceania.”

Osorio will be recognized for his achievements along with other UH award recipients at the annual Convocation ceremony to be held September 14, 2010, at 10 a.m. at Kennedy Theatre on the UH Mānoa campus. The ceremony is open to the public at no charge, and no reservations are needed. For more information, visit http://www.hawaii.edu/about/awards.